Filtering by Tag: bata

Last week I made sure to sneak in time to see the nominated shorts for 2013, both animated and live-action. I'm pretty sure they're still playing at Tiff Lightbox Theatre -- I highly recommend going!
In between each film, previous winners talked about their process and gave advice. Last year's winning authors of the film The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore explained that making a movie takes a long time...longer than you thought it would take (this is when my friend sitting next to me poked me in the ribs). Yes, this is a long process, but there there is daily progress.

Today, I received an email from a Bata representative forwarding me photos of the factory in Picton where my grandmother worked:

So...it's happening. Slowly but surely. I've been patient and things are working for me. Pieces of my grandmother's puzzle are coming together.

I guess the library is starting to be my favourite place. Yesterday after round 2 of search through microfilms for my grandmother's photo, I took the elevator to the stacks in search of books about Bata Shoe Company, specifically in Canada.

When my grandmother first arrived in Canada, she worked at a shoe factory...I thought it was Bata, but in my notes from my meeting with Baba, she says she worked in Carrier Shoe factory. Handy dandy google search isn't finding anything for me with that name. Bata Picton, on the other hand, IS wielding results....

I've started reading Thomas Bata's autobiography. It's fascinating! His father died a Czech hero -- he not only provided thousands of jobs, he helped educate many of his workers and provided good quality products for cheap. Thomas followed his father's legacy, expanding their company across the world. What amazing men!

The reason for all this is I want to hear stories and see pictures of this shoe factory in order for the scene in my film to be depicted accurately. I'm also going to contact Sonja Bata. She's the founding chairman of Bata Shoe Museum (and wife of Thomas). It may be of interest to them that I'm perhaps depicting a bit of their family history in my film.